good news roundup

In the interest of peace on earth and goodwill toward everyone, I present to you four separate instances of religious people and atheists behaving decently toward one another:

In St. Helena, a devout Christian and an atheist met for the first time, talked nonstop over breakfast about their respective beliefs or lack thereof, and decided they had no reason to dislike one another:

Our views had almost nothing in common. We did not even agree on the nature of what is real. We did agree that there was no reason for ill will between us.

Alderden invited two atheist groups to participate after they wrote him asking that he stop the display. He says he wants to be inclusive and told them he had a “big, empty spot for the atheists” at Saturday’s party.

The Colorado Coalition of Reason will erect a sign urging people to illuminate their minds with reason during the winter-solstice season.

In Baltimore, the Right Rev. Eugene Taylor Sutton declared that atheists are no threat to religious leaders:

“As a follower of Christ, I would love for everyone to not only experience this yearning but to also know the creator who imbued us with it,” O’Brien said. “But, being part of a free, pluralistic society is living in community with people who have different faith commitments or no faith commitment at all and to work together to find common ground in working toward the common good.”

Independent Catholic News posted a fair and factual account of the recent intelligence² debate between Richard Dawkins, A C Grayling, Richard Harries and Charles Moore. Before the debate, 334 attendees voted in favor of the motion, with 675 against and 389 undecided. Afterward, 363 voted in favor of the motion, with 1070 against it and 85 undecided. One might find the ICN’s assertion that “While Harries and Moore lost the debate, they managed to persuade a good number of undecided attendees” to be a bit of a stretch — however upon further consideration and after watching the videos, an increase of 29 probably was a good number, all things considered.

5 thoughts on “good news roundup”

I agree 100% with the quote by Rev. Sutton, and I think it is important for us to get along. I think Christians should consider it a part of our duty to have positive interactions with people of differing ideals.

I've been thinking that it would be a good thing to devote some energy to finding more positive stories, and supporting wholeheartedly anyone who speaks out in favor of mutual respect and peaceful coexistence. I was actually somewhat surprised to find all those things in my feed reader this evening, perhaps I need to add some search terms so I can seek out more positivity.

I agree 100% with the quote by Rev. Sutton, and I think it is important for us to get along. I think Christians should consider it a part of our duty to have positive interactions with people of differing ideals.

I've been thinking that it would be a good thing to devote some energy to finding more positive stories, and supporting wholeheartedly anyone who speaks out in favor of mutual respect and peaceful coexistence. I was actually somewhat surprised to find all those things in my feed reader this evening, perhaps I need to add some search terms so I can seek out more positivity.